


Growing Toward; Growing Away

by Harukami



Series: For The Birds [8]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 01:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harukami/pseuds/Harukami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Huracan and Beni decide on what to do about the situation with Koujaku; Ren has some concerns; the complications worsen.</p>
<p>(Again, sorry this is more of a chaptered work than a series work now, whoops.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Toward; Growing Away

It's not like anything Huracan has learned is reassuring. Koujaku looking into Morphine is a bad sign -- not, perhaps, for them, in that Koujaku clearly wants to keep them out of it, but for Koujaku and, by extension, Beni. (And, of course, Aoba, Huracan reminds himself; even if Koujaku wants to keep Aoba out of whatever he was involved in, even if Aoba goes home before he learns about it, it isn't as if he won't feel guilty for whatever happens, however it happens.)

He lands on a branch outside Koujaku's home; Beni, already out there, hops closer, anxious and puffed-up and vibrating.

"Yo, Huracan," he says. "So what's the deal anyway?"

With careful application of claw and beak, Huracan unrolls the tattoo design, pressing it up against the tree branch so they can both look at it. "This is some tattoo design work done by an artist named Ryuuhou," Huracan says.

"That's the guy!"

"That's the guy," Huracan agrees. 

"So he's in town? I can give this to Koujaku and he can get whatever he's on about over with?"

Huracan lets out a sigh. "Unfortunately, it's not so simple." The urge is there to scorn Beni gently, to call him 'sparrow' again in the face of his narrow-minded excitement, but he restrains himself. "This design was done before Mizuki was taken by Morphine, so any trail it leads to is long cold. However, he allowed me to take it, and I assume some example of his work is at least convenient to reference if we're trying to find the man."

"Damn..."

"It gets worse," Huracan says evenly. "Ryuuhou was the artist who worked with Morphine to brainwash Dry Juice with his tattoo work."

Beni almost freezes, the only motion the tilt of his head and the way his feathers slowly puff out further. "...So Koujaku's goin' after Morphine."

"Koujaku's going after Morphine," Huracan agrees.

All at once, Beni explodes, flapping his wings and flailing. "I don't get it, man! I just don't get it! There's no reason to go after Morphine, yanno? Toue's dead, all his enterprises have fallen apart, Morphine ain't showing up any more anyway! And Koujaku got no reason to? MIZUKI going after 'em would make sense, and sure, Koujaku'd back him up, but he ain't, and Koujaku'd bring the rest of us in on it if that was the thing!"

"Well, it doesn't look like he's looking into the rest of Morphine. Maybe it's personal? You did say he hates his own tattoos," Huracan says, side-stepping along the branch to give Beni room to thrash around. "He might have some history unconnected from Morphine?"

"But why so suddenly, then!? You'd think he'd have been all over it _when_ Morphine was slapping weird-ass tattoos on the Dry Juice boys but he didn't look for this asshole then at all!"

Huracan shrugs, uncomfortable. Beni's worked up to a degree that he can't even understand, agitated and almost grieving, even though there's nothing to grieve. Even when Mink had been trying to fight his programming and die, even when Huracan had talked him out of it, he hadn't felt so emotional. He'd cared of course; he'd absolutely cared. But he hadn't been out of control like this. "You'd know better than I. You were the one who pointed out that he started focusing on this once resolving things with Aoba, however. Perhaps they're related?"

"What do I do?" Beni groans. He flops onto his back on the branch, wobbling precariously, and stares at the tattoo design from that awkward position. "I just... I don't know what to do! Like, maybe I should talk to Koujaku, say I know some of what's going on and I want in?"

Huracan sighs. "If that's what you want to do."

"I don't know! He's tryin' to keep me from it and I should be cool about that, right? But I'm not cool! I'm not cool at all!"

"I know you're not cool," Huracan says.

Beni shoots Huracan a suspicious look, but presses on. "I don't know if I can act like it's no big that he's been telling me to butt out and then I get my beak all up in it anyway? But I'm his Allmate, man! Exactly whose sake am I supposed to be doing things for anyway?" He flings himself upright again, puffing up even more -- though he's still an incredibly small sparrow, from Huracan's perspective. Instead of settling into his puff, he starts pacing again, whirling back and forth in an eight-inch stretch of branch.

He doesn't let himself think about it too much; he reaches out a wing and gathers Beni close, then shifts to settle Beni between his feet, against his body, settling down against him. The warm pressure against his back practically forces Beni to settle down and Beni, muttering complaints under his breath, slowly relaxes and falls silent.

"Listen," Huracan says. "It's probably a good idea to bring Mink and the others into it. Mink has a lot of contacts in the underworld now that we're out this way, and that's an angle your upright and noble master wouldn't begin to explore. And Aoba and Ren both, in different ways, have a lot of influence on Koujaku. They would support you as well, in a way that I am less capable of."

Beni lets out an audible whine. "I know that already!" he says. "But -- I wanna try this on my own. Just a little longer. Those guys are here for another week, right?"

"Yes..."

"So let me try to bring Koujaku around, right? If he doesn't, I guess... we'll see what happens then but I don't wanna do all this and go behind his back with Aoba, you know?"

"Yes," Huracan says. He ducks his head and preens Beni gently, smoothing those feathers down until they eventually lie flat again.

They huddle together a little longer, before Beni shakes himself free and grabs up the tattoo design. "Awwight," he says around the roll in his beak. "ish ee uck."

Huracan doesn't, in fact, wish Beni luck; just nudges him with a wing until he flies back into Koujaku's room, and watches the curtains fall back into place. 

A few moments later, he shakes himself; no point in staying around here, then. He flies back to Aoba's house, enters through the veranda, and immediately finds himself the focus of three pairs of eyes.

"...Good afternoon," he says.

"Welcome back, Huracan," Aoba says, a bit impishly, and Huracan shoots Mink a betrayed look. Mink finds something very interesting in his sleeve, a hypothetical loose thread, perhaps. "Sooo were you seeing your boyfriend?"

"Erm," Huracan says.

Ren clears his throat, putting his front paws together. "When you weren't around, Aoba got concerned," he says, polite as always. "Mink explained that you had romantic interests in the area and were likely pursuing them as you did not need to be called upon right then."

"I apologize for my tardiness in returning," Huracan says. 

Aoba shifts closer excitedly. "So who is he?"

"...I really can't..."

"Another Allmate? ...I suppose under the circumstances, it'd have to be, right?"

Thinking of Beni, Huracan says, "I'm sure it's entirely possible that an Allmate could come to love their master in some sort of romantic manner. I can't imagine them falling in love with someone who isn't, but I suppose the world is full of many things. However, under the circumstances I'm sure you're quite aware that neither of those two things is the case for me."

Ren gazes at Aoba; Aoba glances at Mink, and Mink furrows his brows at Huracan, as if to chide him wordlessly for bringing him into it. Huracan shrugs back at him; Mink told them, so fair's fair.

"Aoba," Ren says, abruptly. "He's clearly reluctant to talk about it. Perhaps enough is enough."

"Ah... yeah, that's right, Ren," Aoba agrees. "Sorry, Huracan. I didn't mean to pry."

He obviously had, but Huracan shrugs it off. Wanting to know and wanting to interfere are different things, anyway. "It's no matter. I apologize for my late return."

"It's fine! We were getting ready to head back to the hotel but I didn't want you to get lost--"

"I told him you'd find me regardless," Mink says. "But you know what he's like."

He does. Aoba is as considerate of them as he would be of any human being. He's watched Aoba and Ren together many times and acknowledges that. Aoba doesn't just want things to be possible for them, he wants it to be convenient; he doesn't want to put them out, or trouble them, or any such thing. Even just then, teasing him and wanting to know more... since it's Aoba, it came from a genuine place. 

They head back to the hotel, and Ren turns around repeatedly on the sofa as he settles in, while Mink and Aoba head into the bedroom -- presumably for round two, though Huracan certainly doesn't ask. He can't sleep yet -- not because he couldn't use the chance to recharge a little, but because he's unsure how things have gone with Beni, and is sure that whatever the result, Beni will message him soon to let him know.

Ren, too, doesn't sleep yet, lifts his head after curling up and watches Huracan as he settles on the arm of the sofa. His tail wags uncertainly.

"...Huracan."

"What is it?"

"...While I haven't asked who it is," Ren says, "I do have a few suspicions."

Huracan laughs. "That's putting it vaguely," he says. "I'm sure you have more than a few."

"...Yes," Ren says. "Rather, I've more or less put it together."

"I thought you might have."

Ren's tail moves again, a quick fluffy gesture, more uneasy than friendly. "I'm not against it," he says. "He is, as you know, a very important friend, but you two have certainly always had some... tension. And as I've noted, he seems to be growing toward you of late."

"...I wouldn't say he's growing away from your friendship, however," Huracan says. "It's not a substitute."

"He's been talking to me less," Ren says. "...Well, I was unable to be there for him when he needed me, regarding the situation between Koujaku and Aoba. I'm not going to fault him if he is hurt by that."

"I don't think it's that at all," Huracan says. "I suspect it's more that he respects your relationship with Aoba and wouldn't wish to put you on the spot." It's more or less the truth of things, though he can't reveal how much more it's become so. "But I suppose feelings go in multiple directions. If you want to talk with him honestly, you need to prompt him as well. You can't simply expect him to talk to you. If you regret the sense of growing apart, pull yourself closer."

Ren is silent a moment, watching him through dark blue eyes. "I suppose so."

"Yes."

"That said, Huracan..."

"Yes?"

Ren hunches himself up a little. "...If you hurt him, I will..."

What's this? A threat? Huracan leans forward with rather more interest than dismay. "You'll what?"

"I... shall be very cross with you."

Huracan manages to restrain his laugh. "Ah. I see. I will endeavour to avoid that."

"Please do so." Ren settles back down properly, propping his chin on his front paws and looking toward the bedroom.

Huracan follows the gaze. There's something lonely, something remote there. "Do you feel the people you care about are all growing away from you, then?"

"...Huracan."

"I'm simply asking."

"...It's important for Aoba to have a relationship like this one," Ren says. "...I'm not that unobservant, you know. I'm aware of the situation. That part is hard to forgive. But my heart goes where Aoba's heart goes. If he wishes to reclaim this and transform it, I can only support him. He's so very happy now. I hadn't been aware there was such a lack in him, that desire to grow forward in support and happiness with another person. I really hadn't been aware. But seeing it fulfilled is undeniable, so there must have been one. Even if Aoba did grow away from me, if it means he is having that need fulfilled, that can only be a good thing."

There's a tone in his voice that makes Huracan settle back on his perch again with a little discomfort. He's heard a similar tone from Beni, talking about Koujaku.

But calling Beni out on that had been a very poor decision. It had been hurtful and harmful. Ren is... if not someone Huracan would consider close, they are, in a sense, family now; he has no desire to see Ren reacting out of pain.

Instead he says, carefully, "I doubt Aoba will grow away from you. There's room for multiple forms of relationships, and he certainly hasn't acted that way back home, has he? He simply is trying hard to figure out how to introduce Mink properly to the people he knows here, so the focus is on this at this moment. You're his Allmate. Rather, you're his partner. That is important as well, especially to Aoba."

"I suppose so," Ren says.

Huracan receives a call then, and draws himself back from the conversation. "I apologize -- I just received a message."

"Please go ahead."

Huracan takes it, a quick sending from Beni: _This is the worst._

As Ren settles down to sleep, Huracan puffs up his crest uncertainly, sending a message back. _What?_

_He got -- he got so angry_ , Beni sends. _I've never seen him this angry! He flung me away, told me to get out of his sight! What the hell... what the hell, what the hell!! What the hell am I supposed to do?!_

_Come here,_ Huracan says. There are plenty of people here for Beni; himself, Ren, Aoba. _Come here, Beni._

The message is answered immediately: _I can't! Even if he doesn't wanna see me, I can't abandon him! He's my partner, goddammit! I'm hiding in the curtain, but I ain't ditching!_

Huracan exhales. _Get online, then_ , he says, and sends coordinates.

Beni, when he arrives, is a bright-eyed, shaking mess. He seems more angry than sad, but only somewhat; it looks to Huracan as if those two emotions are the only thing left in him, some sort of devastating mix. "What the hell!" he says again. "I just -- I just want to help him!"

"Come here," Huracan says, and this time he doesn't mean in person; but online is close enough for them, and he can feel Beni's small, vibrating form as Beni does, as Beni moves close and presses against him. Beni doesn't wrap his arms around Huracan, doesn't move to hold him or to let go of his own anger, just presses against him like a tense, unyielding bundle.

"It was like he wasn't even himself," Beni says. "He'll be back to normal soon, right? He's gotta be. But I've never seen Koujaku like that before. Never."

"It will be all right," Huracan soothes.

"The hell it will be! He's not all right, so I'm not all right, do you get that? He's not all right, so I'm not all right!"

Huracan gets it. He puts a hand on the feathers of Beni's hair and strokes, preening him with no beak, and waits for the tension to break.


End file.
